The place I call home & Day 129. 236 Days Left.

What the sign should read…

THE AMAZON

Be advised: at some point, you will find any if not all of the following in your home...

Spiders:
Golden Orb: commonly refereed to as banana spiders. Call them what you will but I like to refer to them as fuckingsonofabitchwhorefaced spiders.

Jumping wolf: which litter the outside of our building. And as the name implies, they jump!

Common house spiders: they drop down from light fixtures, microwaves or the kitchen cabinets for a friendly morning visit. No thank you! I like to have my coffee uninterrupted.

Some big ass gold spider: or as the hubby calls them the night spider. These bad boys seem to only make their webs at night and often surprise me in my car (they are not small).

Your daddy (sometimes granddaddy depending on size) long legs: YUCK! Typically found where it is dark and cozy or just about anywhere in my house(they like to keep us Sankeys on our toes). Towel cabinets, behind the kid’s bathroom trash can, along side the washer dryer, the kids bathtub, behind Addison's stuffed animals, the sink, the elevator... get the point.

Lizards:
curly tails: these guys are kinda cute. At a distance. A very far distance.

Knight anole: the problem with these are they bite and Jackson loves chasing them. Ugh!

Skinks: have you seen a skink? They are not pretty and surely you would not want one in your house. Go ahead Google them.

Snakes: we have a wonderful variety of snakes that also like to make their way into homes. Thankfully for me, I am on the fourth floor… no snakes in my house (whish I could say the same of spiders). However, a neighbor, not so lucky, receiving regular visits from all the above.

Mosquitoes: commonly mistaken for helicopters. They are that giant. These disgusting disease spreading pests find their way into the house and gorge themselves on my family; all night. They are kind enough to invite the whole mosquito community inside for a Free buffet of ALL YOU CAN EAT: babies, dogs, cats and two very unsuspecting and plump slabs of sleeping meat. Jackson by far fairs the worse. He looks as though he has some form of mutant chickenpox. Poor guy. No deet for the kiddos and skin so soft, why yes, my children do have exceptionally soft skin but are still covered in red bumps.

So if you fear any of the above (as I) I suggest stay out of the jungle otherwise known as Coral Springs. Wonder why I never got the memo?
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Day 129
sand & water table
first day of play... hours of entertainment

second day of play... holy mess
You can't tell from the picture but there isn't any sand left in the table

third day of play... water table only

Just one more thing she will have to tell the Psychiatrist & Day 122. 243 Days Left.

I open the blinds to let the sunlight through the kid‘s room.

There she is; she quickly pulls all eight legs in. Fucking great, I mumble under my breath. I had no idea two little bodies were standing behind me. “What mommy? What is it?” A spider, I tell her. “Can I see her?” she asks. I point to the top of the window. Thankfully she was outside, for now.

“Where mommy? There?” pointing to the center of the window… I look, “Are you kidding me! Another one!” Addison looks at me and says “mommy go call daddy now, he needs to clean them.” (clean means kill) And yes, daddy needs to clean them before they get inside. Because they do get inside. Every. Last. One. Of. Them. Bastards!

I go to the kitchen to call the hubby; suddenly Addison lets out a terrible shriek. Jackson cries. I run into the room knowing just what it was… another spider. Addison, huffing and puffing dramatically (the only way Addison communicates), points to the bottom of the window and tells me the daddy spider is moving. I go to look and daddy spider is indeed moving. And indeed is a daddy spider. No, not a daddy long legs but a huge golden daddy sized spider. I grab a trembling Addison in one arm and a crying Jackson (clearly upset about Addison’s shriek) in the other and dump them into the living room. Addison is so terrified of bugs she makes me look brave (and that is saying something).

Yes, it is spider season in Coral Springs. Apparently there are so many that they fight for any available space which drives clusters into the Sankey house. Uninvited. But it is more than clusters. It's actually a convention. A big, giant, international spider convention, televised to all their spider family and friends, inviting them to come on over. We are over-run. The house. The balcony. My car. Nothing is off limits.

Finally able to get the hubby on the phone, I explain, as dramatically as Addison, he needs to get home NOW and kill the spiders on the kid’s window. NOW! RIGHT NOW! And that he does. He made up some excuse for having to leave work (one of the luxuries of having children) and he made his way home.

The moment the hubby walks through the door, Addison frantically tells him about the spiders on her bedroom window. “You got to go kill them daddy.” In as little as 45 minutes, clean has become kill. "Daddy, go get the spray. Hurry.” And he did. The hubby grab the jumbo bottle of Ortho home defense max and headed into the kid’s bedroom.

Addison, suddenly emboldened by the presence of poison, wanted to follow us into the room to watch the unwelcomed pest die. She is so my child.

Addison and I point out the offenders; I chase her and Jackson out of the room and oversee the operation from the farthest corner. I like knowing where they are and that they are in fact dead.

Before the hubby removes the screen (which was the only way to reach the daddy spider) I have him saturate the inside of the window. Not wanting them to have the option of running into the room. He takes the screen out and shoots away. They begin dropping. And more than just the three. I see what I think are flies coming through the window and as the supervisor I point out that flies are getting in. The hubby turns to me “those are not flies. Get out of here!”

Before leaving the room I hear Addison on the other side of the door… “DIE, FUCKIN’ SPIDERS, DIE!”

I am so proud.

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Day 122
Summertime or for Addison, Just Another Day

FEAR & Day 93. 272 Days Left.

Who can explain fear? I certainly can not. As a child, I wasn't a complete scaredy-cat, but scary movies and being in the dark were issues and spiders continue to be problematic and one or two other things give me the creeps. All in all, I'm fairly brave….I think. Even though I know people who don't mind the dark and love spiders, it makes me want to ask those people what is wrong with you?

Fears are strange creatures.
Powerful.
Often times unexplainable. Often times- life altering.

Tuesday night while at the park I remembered the moment I feared most in life. We went with our friends and their two daughters. The girls were running around together and picked-up another friend. Suddenly, they began rolling down a small hill in the grass. Addison wanted to join; but she, like me, stood frozen.

The day in the park with all the bees came rushing back. I encouraged Addison to join the girls; she stood there looking at me. I could read the look of fear on her face. I was not persistent, she was not ready. I turn and see Jackson tumbling around with the girls, my heart stopped. Moments later, Addison decided to join.

I was encouraging. Panicked. I was fearful.

I immediately began checking the grass, looking for any signs of bees or underground hives. I found a drain in the area, inspected it closely. After finding nothing, I told the kids to stay away from the drain. I still refused to keep my eyes off them.

I listened to them laugh. Addison was rolling around, in the grass, laughing. She was laughing. I can breath… but only for the moment.

Because I know the next time, the next park, I will fear the same.

(we have visited many, many parks since the bee incident; however, this was the first time since Addison has actually played in the grass)

What do you FEAR most?
Have you experienced it?
How did you handle the situation?
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Day 93
Jackson sippy cup discovery

Both he and the sofa- covered in milk
Addison did the very same, when she was two yrs old, with her milk; except she coated every inch of the nursery with tiny milk dots. I still find evidence of her milkcapade- she is three.

How to kill a spider

Addison woke up this morning and the first thing we do is go potty. Yes, it is a family effort. Jackson hangs around in the bathroom with us. (I will save you the details because everything below happens during this very moment)…

I picked up the bathroom garbage knowing Jackson grabs anything he can get his little hands on and shoves it in his face. Pretty disgusting. I know.

As I do this I notice a huge spider. Jackson is two inches away from it.

The damn thing has built its web in between Addison’s Elmo potty seat and the garbage. I must have disturbed it. I shout “Holy Fuck!” (more than once). Jackson starts screaming, as I throw him in his crib, and I yank Addison off her little blue toddler potty- midstream. Thankfully she opted to use that instead of Elmo seat because I would have been wearing the bastard.

I am terrified of spiders. Well, now so is Jackson- he is 10 months.

I shut the door call my husband. He can’t help. Call my mom. She can’t help. Fuck.

I opt to kill it myself. I get the bug spray, point & shoot. The bastard put up
quite a fight. Finally I saturated it enough that it curls up and dies. The bathroom is literally soaking wet from the bug spray.

While doing this- Jackson is still screaming and I am praying that Addison doesn’t pick-up on my language. No such luck. I can hear her crying,“Oh No! Oh No, my fucking Elmo Potty”. (more than once). Shit.

Finally, I am able to move Addison’s potty stuff. I set it up in my bedroom bathroom. This is where it will stay until my husband is home from work and can get rid of the thing. I just hope Addison can make it to the other side of the house every time she has to go.

For those of you who know me. This was quite a moment.
Today I killed a spider.